MLB.com's Carrie Muskat has been covering Major League Baseball since 1981 and is the author of "Banks to Sandberg to Grace: Five Decades of Love and Frustration with the Cubs." You can follow her on Twitter @CarrieMuskat. Here, she blogs about the Cubs.

5/6 Samardzija to Iowa

The Cubs have called up right-hander Chad Fox and optioned Jeff Samardzija to Triple-A Iowa. Samardzija has a 8.10 ERA in five relief outings since he was called up April 23 from the Minor League team. On Tuesday, Lou Piniella said the young right-hander needed to develop his other pitches. He’ll get a chance with Iowa. Fox, 38, had a 1.59 ERA in 11 relief appearances at Iowa. His career has been interrupted often by elbow problems.

– Carrie Muskat

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21 Comments

And for this we released Vizcaino? I still can’t believe it, the highest paid reliever in the team that hasn’t allowed a single run in 3+ innings and he is released because of a mysterious despair of calling up Samardzija. And 2 weeks later Samardzija is back in the minors. Could someone explain the why of this move?

Generally, I trust the moves the front office makes. That’s why they have the job and not myself. But I completely agree with mexicancub. I wish they would have at least given a good reason for dropping Vizcaino. I couldn’t see him pitch, so maybe he was erratic, but lucky… who knows? But to drop a proven reliever to call up someone, hindering their development, seemed like a really bad move.

I agree with both of you. i didn’t like jeff being called up in the first place and a really didnt agree getting rid of the only guy with a era under five in the bullpen. this bullpen is one of the worst in baseball and will keep getting worse if Jim keeps messing with it. everytime the starter gets pulled i hold my breath.

Wow, sorry to say this to mexicancub, mophatici@yahoo.com and mlbfanwi but I agree with all of you, it would be hard to explain these moves like most moves by Hendry. I was sorry to agree with you because according to wrigleyvilleusa and bippy27 my agreeing with must make you part of “all us stupid fans” of course, me still being the MOST STUPID, I think but…I’m stupid so..

First…..trading away a clutch hitter like DeRosa was stupid and ADDING gregg to a bullpen with kerry wood would have been a much better idea….think of how many MORE games the cubbies would have won ALREADY with those two in the lineup….Second…if Bradley is not going to hit he needs to stay where he is (on the bench) that way will not have to count on him in a tight situation

mophatici@yahoo.com – what a kissa#%! Who are you Jim Hendry? mexicancub is partially correct, though. The problem was with the decision they made on Samardzija coming out of Spring Training is the true problem. Hey they’re messing with this kid, just as they have with others just like him. He’s a reliever, no; he’s gonna be the closer; no, let’s turn him into a starter…he’s gotta feel like a ping pong ball!

Add to the fact that Viscaino and DeRosa are both absent…what do we have to show for all those pinheaded moves ??

Speaking of the lousy DeRosa trade, in today’s paper Phil Rogers writes that Jeff Stevens MAY get a call up IF Randy Wells doesn’t perform well in his ONE start for Big Z. That’s one of the 3 minor leaguers Hendry traded DeRosa for, still a long way to go before we can see the reason for that trade. And that would be so typical anyway, give Wells ONE start to evaluate him before calling up another guy to what? Give him ONE start…??? I can’t help but think Hendry
may be trying to speed up the promotion of Stevens to help justify the DeRosa trade. The kid would have to be a pretty good starter or a lights out reliever to come close to getting the value of DeRosa. In all fairness to Stevens, he does have a 0.00 era in the minors, so why Wells and not him? Really, when you think of it Hendry is just throwing darts anyway so call up the guy with the best era and at the same time show something for DeRosa. Rogers also writes tha Lee’s neck strain is coming just when he’s starting to hit because he’s 5 OUT OF HIS LAST 17…C’mon Phil, then wouldn’t you need to judge how EVERY player is hitting by THEIR last 17 at bats as well? Just to be fair? So check out Fukodome’s last 17 at bats and you may see signs of a drop off in production we fear will repeat like last year. 17 ab’s, yep Lee’s good to go and the awesome run producer he was two years ago. How about Haffpauir last 17 ab’s?
wouldn’t that give him the edge over Lee? Let’s get it together Phil, that article was written as if us Cubs fans
aren’t paying attention. Well, we are, even though most of us people are stupid…right wrigleyvilleusa?

cubbieblue,
i was not only speaking of DeRo’s defense (which will be GREATLY missed from what i have seen) but how many times already this season have the cubbies left the basses loaded in an inning and had less than two outs with them loaded to start with i think if DeRo was in the line up with that clutch hitting of his more often than not when we needed him to come up with a knock he did it….maybe not power but he brought his teammates around…btw its gal…lol

I think it safe to say that most of us, if not all of us agree that although DeRosa isn’t the second coming of Ty Cobb he was a vital part of a winning ball club and a DEEP ball club and Hendry really just dropped the ball big time. But now we have no choice but to move on and HOPE that somebody else and steps it up to replace his production and versatility and also hope that the players Hendry did acquire live up to HIS expectations and not us skeptics’ expectations. Even though I remain skeptical and dissappointed with Hendry’s acquistions I can only HOPE that…Fontenot can produce like DeRosa, Fukodome doesn’t have a mid-season collapse, Soriano can hit with men on base AND keep his legs healthy (for 6 MORE YEARS), Bradley can feild his positon and stay healthy and start to hit and not blow his top (FOR 3 YEARS), Gregg can retire the side every now and then, Samarjida doesn’t go nuts shuffleing back and forth from AAA to the bigs and from starter to releiver, Any fifth starter/long reliever can replace the lost Marquis, Koyie hill can replace Blanco’s influence on Soto, Miles can develope into a very good 2ND BASEMAN, 3RD BASEMAN & RIGHT FEILDER to offset the lost of DeRosa…well it could go on and on but one thing for sure, Hendry left us with a lot of HOPING things work out instead of expecting things to work out.

cubsfan19722 & joeydafish: I think it’s safe to say we’re all disappointed that the decisions of the front office have let us down, especially when it comes to letting DeRosa (and to some extent Wood) go. I think that it’s more than the defensive skills, the clutch-hitting, and sure-handed plays we enjoyed and were accustomed to.

What I think is truly missing is the chemistry. That is one thing that typifies (is that a word) what’s really ‘off’ this year. There was such a spark and electricity that DeRosa brought to the line-up. Thing is that even when he wasn’t playing (like when he was injured at the end of the season) there were other spark-plugs that kept the fire going. No one’s mentioned Edmunds, but when he and Johnson shared center we never felt the air go out of the balloon. It’s like they took some of the heart and soul out of our game. We’ve still got the Ram, but it remains to be seen if he and Theriot can keep the beat with so many core members gone (or on their way down or out like Lee…)

Well stated cubbeeblue. The turnover in the roster was more than NEEDED, EXPECTED AND ANTICIPATED by us Cubs’ fans and probably a lot of baseball people from other organizations as well. St. Louis and Milwaukee in particular must have thought with all the questionable moves by Hendry that they have a legitimate shot at competing with or even leapfrogging over the Cubs despite their own short comings such as losing Sabathia & Sheets for Milwaukee and Carpenter being suspect for St. Louis. Hendry had the best opportunity to slam the door in the NL Central but instead he left it wide open. Plus the thing is I don’t think he trimmed the payroll significantly IF THAT WAS HIS REASON FOR HIS CONFOUNDING MOVES. He just is and has always been more lucky than smart with the teams he puts together. I will give him credit for atoning for the Dusty Baker signing with the Pinella signing, I believe that was one of his better moves, but again don’t you think most GM’s would have at least tried to sign an available manager like Pinella? Which leaves Hendry as just a run-of-the mill GMs like I always thought. When you get down to it his most recent and possibly best decision was way back when he traded for Ramirez. At that time I thought we finally had a very good, intuitive, smart GM. Time has proved other-wise.

Well I’ll be! Hendry just traded Gathright for Freel. This is actually a good move. One, because Gathright, well IS GATHRIGHT, and two, Freel has proven himself to be a versital, pesky on-base type of guy. I think this will help offset the loss of DeRosa. The irony is Hendry traded Pie in part becuase Gathright was “a better option”, the Orioles traded Freel because they believe PIE has more upside and NONE OF THIS WOULD HAVE HAD TO HAVE HAPPENED IF HENDRY KEPT DEROSA LIKE HE SHOULD HAVE. So, a little credit to Hendry but again it’s a move made to compensate his previous bad moves. In essence, the Cubs now have Miles and Freel instead of Pie and DeRosa, doesn’t seem to make sense but better than Miles and Gathright. What happens to Scales now? OH NO!!!!!!

So we are eating the 3.1 mil of Vizcaino’s contract to bring up Samardzija who flopped, then we brought up Fox who flopped and Vizcaino is now going to the Indians – sound like a trend? So why did we do all that again, especially with his era. Thankfully we are getting rid of Gathright, hopefully Freel works out and I heard that the Orioles are eating some of Freel’s contract which helps. We need to fix our bullpen, it is one of the least used ( a good thing) with some of the worst stats, era, and walks (a very bad thing). Some think that bringing in Peavy and sending Marshall back to the bullpen will fix it. Well Marshall has done well as a fifth starter and I am not sure we could get Peavy without having to give up something quality like Marshall. If we could dump Heilman in a Peavy deal then maybe. Also why are we keeping Patton in the bullpen again? The bats are starting to swing, that will be a given, Lee will heat up, so will Bradley and Soto, Ramirez will be phenomenal as always and I bet Fukedome will be better towards the end this year verses last. If the Cards keep commiting errors we will end up on top.

interesting how the blog starts about Jess S, and everyone other player, so i might as well follow suit as briefly as i can with my Cubs diagnosis for 2009:
Trading DeRosa: I thought this move was made in order to make another move that would eventually bring Peavy into the rotation. Peavy is currently 2-4 with an ERA over 4, so we didnt miss out on anything it seems.
Bullopen, Vizcaino etc: Cubs seemed to have little patience here. Theyve showed this lack of patience before only for the player to surface someoneelse and eventually beat the Cubs brains in. Im not too worried about this one really.
My biggest concern in the Cubs pen is actually AARON HEILMAN…after watchin my father, who is a Mets fan, agonize for the past few seasons over how much he hated him, I can now simpathize. Thats the guy who the Cubs shouldve released , not Vizcaino…but what do I know?
Cub fans….get your ant-acid ready
Jee Smar… – I like him, i look forward for him to get his stuff together and come back.
K Wood…that was not a bad move, hes getting toasted in Cleveland… K Gregg throws strikes. Marmol needs to be more consistant. Hes too much in love with the slider, having already a dominant fastball.
Cubs offense…Just a lot of bad luck with Ramirez…. I think its a blessing in disguise that Lee got hurt and Hoffpauir can get more at bats cause the guy can really hit. If he puts the work in towards improving his offense, I wouldnt see trading Lee as a bad thing…(that has no chance of happening , im just throwing it out there ) Seems like Lee had a brief flash of greatness only to settle down as just acceptable.
Im still waiting on Fokudome to fail like he did last year , hopefully he wont!…
Bradley…people…GIVE HIM A BREAK…HE WILL HIT ! he has the best eyes on our lineup, hes hit some good balls with no luck. I have faith hes trying, i dont think he deserves the boos hes getting. (just yet). Soto will turnaround too.
Ok, thats it for now….we can complain all we want, and in the the Cubs will make the playoffs, so RELAX!
If its meant to be , theyll be healthy and hot at the right time, and make it past the first round…

Vizcaino just signed with the Indians — and will be pitching for his seventh team in six years. He’s the classic “tease” pitcher: stuff looks great, and every GM truly believes HIS pitching coach will be the one to unlock the potential — but it ain’t gonna happen until the guy gets a brain transplant. Hendry’s mistake was getting him, not cutting him.
As for Jeff Stevens: He was unhittable early in spring training as a short man late in games, then faded. Might be because in those early spring games, he was facing scared Double-A babies in the eighth and ninth. But much as we all miss DeRosa, Stevens could be the real thing.
And Phil Rogers is a foof.

I think we are eating Vizcaino’s salary or at least part of it and now are showing nothing for the Marquis deal? Except of course a void in the bullpen. We brought up Chad Fox and his Frankenstein arm for a few pitches and lost him for good with a final career ending injury, gee, who would have thought THAT could happen? But I guess Hendry OWED a major league job to Fox (and Scales?) but not Vizcaino??
Or is Hendry just confused with the multiple Vizcaino’s on the roster now that he brought up the YOUNG PROMISING Vizcaino, let’s hope he gives him a chance. I agree with whoever said RELEASING Vizcaino (the OLD ONE) was not the problem, the problem was Hendry trading Marquis FOR Vizcaino. I would love for the Cubs to make the World Series THIS YEAR, but is anybody else on board with FINALLY going with a young pitching staff (i.e. Marshall, Wells, Samarjda etc.) FOR A FEW YEARS, let them grow into their roles along with some YOUNG POSITON players and THEN get serious about a World Series run by adding just a few players (veterans) WHEN THE TIME IS RIGHT? Enough of these fading, limited range, defensively average (at best) DESIGNATED HITTERS Hendry seems to be in love with. It looks like Cincy and even Pittsburgh might be closer to this approach than the Cubs. As the Marlins always seem to be.
The must win now at all costs…is COSTING the Cubs too much. It’s just not working with Hendry and now I fear Lou is losing his energy on top of everything else. Let’s develop the young guys and maybe even the young manager (Sandberg) AND LET THEM GEL into something sustainable, talented and productive.

The cubs have ruined more pitchers by trying to make them something they are not. Jeff is the next in line for that to happen to. they will screw him up just like all the rest. Lee should be the next to go be fore they ruin Hauffpour.

jenninjam@yahoo.com…why so negative about Jeff and Hauffpour??? Oh, that’s right as of today Hendry is STILL the GM!! Who even knows what they have Samarzdija doing in triple A…probably playing 3B to cover for Ramirez!!!! And Jake Fox? Two more homers, what’s it going to take to get him up here and platoon at first with
Hauffpour??? A new GM, I guess.

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